Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau waves while accompanied by his wife Sophie Gregoire (2nd from R) as he arrives to give his victory speech after Canada's federal election in Montreal, Quebec, October 19, 2015.

(Jim Young/REUTERS)

Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau waves while accompanied by his wife Sophie Gregoire (2nd from R) as he arrives to give his victory speech after Canada's federal election in Montreal, Quebec, October 19, 2015.

The Liberals under Justin Trudeau have won a comfortable majority government after the longest and costliest federal election campaign in Canadian history.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper then stepped down, ending almost 10 years in power.

Mr. Harper did not say that directly but John Walsh, president of the Conservative Party, released this statement late Monday: "I have spoken to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and he has instructed me to reach out to the newly-elected parliamentary caucus to appoint an interim leader and to the national council to implement the leadership selection process pursuant to the Conservative Party of Canada constitution."

John Ibbitson​ on Trudeau's 'historic rebuke' of Harper and Mulcair (The Globe and Mail)

At 2 a.m. ET, the Liberals were elected or leading in 185 seats – 15 more than needed to form a majority government.

That compared to 100 for the Conservatives, 42 for the NDP, 10 for the Bloc Québécois and one for the Green party. If those numbers hold, it means the Bloc failed to get the 12 seats necessary for official party status in the new Commons and that the Greens failed to add a seat to their leader's lone tally.

HOW THE PARTY LEADERS FARED

Party leaders Stephen Harper, Justin Trudeau, Tom Mulcair and Elizabeth May were all elected in their respective ridings, while Gilles Duceppe of the Bloc Québécois lost.

WHAT A LIBERAL GOVERNMENT MEANS

Who is the real Justin Trudeau? Here is an in-depth profile of Canada's next prime minister from The Globe's Ian Brown.

Are there enough Liberal stars to form a quality cabinet? "The short answer is yes," John Ibbitson writes. He notes the Liberals are "particularly deep" in Ontario, where a number of the party's notable candidates were successful in getting elected.

The Liberal Party offered a starkly different vision for the economy than the incumbent Conservatives. The party has said it would run short-term budget deficits in order to increase government spending on public infrastructure. Bank of Montreal chief economist Douglas Porter said a Liberal win would provide a short-term lift for the economy in 2016, The Globe's Barrie McKenna reports.

The Liberals saw large gains in Quebec, where they won only seven of 75 ridings in the last federal election. The NDP suffered a sharp reversal from 2011, when the party rode an "Orange Wave" in the province to Official Opposition status.

The Liberal Party exceeded expectations on Monday night. Before the results started streaming in, The Globe's election forecast, based on recent polls and historical data, said there was an 81-per-cent chance the Liberals would get the most seats, but only an 18-per-cent chance of a Liberal majority.

Next story

| Learn More

Discover content from The Globe and Mail that you might otherwise not have come across. Here we’ll provide you with fresh suggestions where we will continue to make even better ones as we get to know you better.

You can let us know if a suggestion is not to your liking by hitting the ‘’ close button to the right of the headline.